British Tory Leaders Look and Sound Like New Deal Democrats

Political parties are protean by nature. It’s difficult to say anything about them that holds true over long periods of time. The Republican Party, for instance, has oscillated between pro-tariff isolationism and free-trade internationalism at fairly regular intervals during its history. Sometimes, however, recurring behaviors within parties persist over time, giving them a distinct flavor and identifiable character that remain consistent throughout their history.

The British Conservative Party is a case in point. At the end of the 19th century, the leader of the Liberals, William Harcourt, made the astute observation that the Conservatives “never yet took up a cause without betraying it in the end.” Over a hundred subsequent years of the Tories in government and in opposition have done nothing to weaken this claim. The unflinching willingness of the party to divest itself of any previously held principle or policy in order to win a majority in the House of Commons would be impressive if it wasn’t so completely amoral. Apart from a few brief periods of respite when some person of principle has managed to wrestle the reins of power away from agents of the status quo, the Conservative Party has operated with only two guiding principles in mind throughout its history: It is in favor of being in power, and it opposes being out of power.

About the Author

Cameron Hilditch

Cameron Hilditch was a 2020-2021 William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at National Review Institute.

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Political parties are protean by nature. It’s difficult to say anything about them that holds true over long periods of time. The Republican Party, for instance, has oscillated between pro-tariff isolationism and free-trade internationalism at fairly regular intervals during its history. Sometimes, however, recurring behaviors within parties persist over time, giving them a distinct flavor and identifiable character that remain consistent throughout their history.

The British Conservative Party is a case in point. At the end of the 19th century, the leader of the Liberals, William Harcourt, made the astute observation that the Conservatives “never yet took up a cause without betraying it in the end.” Over a hundred subsequent years of the Tories in government and in opposition have done nothing to weaken this claim. The unflinching willingness of the party to divest itself of any previously held principle or policy in order to win a majority in the House of Commons would be impressive if it wasn’t so completely amoral. Apart from a few brief periods of respite when some person of principle has managed to wrestle the reins of power away from agents of the status quo, the Conservative Party has operated with only two guiding principles in mind throughout its history: It is in favor of being in power, and it opposes being out of power.